Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H05-280659 (hereinafter, “Document 1”) discloses a diaphragm-type automatic on-off valve equipped with a pilot valve. This automatic on-off valve includes a pilot valve seat provided on a control flow channel, a pilot valve that moves toward and away from the pilot valve seat to open and close the control flow channel, a magnet (“control magnet”) that is driven by a motor, and a magnet that is coupled to the pilot valve.
This diaphragm-type automatic on-off valve is an automatic on-off valve that is controlled by a permanent magnet actuator and has a pilot valve controlled using a permanent magnet actuator. The permanent magnet actuator is composed of a motor that is capable of both forward and reverse rotation and a control magnet driving apparatus that is driven by the motor. The control magnet driving apparatus is composed of a drive shaft and a control magnet holder that holds two magnets that have a south pole and a north pole. With this automatic on-off valve, the magnet that is driven (i.e., rotated or moved reciprocally) by the motor attracts or repels the magnet that is coupled to the pilot valve, thereby causing the pilot valve to move toward or away from the pilot valve seat.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H07-317929 (hereinafter “Document 2”) discloses a three-way electrical valve with a Geneva drive. In this three-way electrical valve, a valving element with a T-shaped through-hole is disposed inside a valve element that has three openings. A valve shaft of the valve element is rotated by a driving motor connected via the Geneva drive (“intermittent driving force transmitting means”). The Geneva drive (intermittent driving force transmitting means) used in this three-way electrical valve has a driver and a follower and intermittently transmits a driving force from the driver, which is driven at a constant speed, to the follower. With the Geneva drive disclosed in Patent Document 2, the follower intermittently rotates in steps of 90° every time the driver rotates by 360° (i.e., one revolution).